Andrews Academy
by SnowGirl098
Summary: Rachel and Jesse meet under different circumstances.  St. Berry
1. Chapter 1

Soooooo...

Hi.

This is the first fanfiction story I've ever published, though I've written countless numbers of them. I love reading them and thought I'd add in my own two cents. I know the whole 'Jesse and Rachel meet at camp pre-season one' plot has been used numerous times but the ages and timing in the existing stories bother me, as well written as they are, so here's my take.

I didn't expect this to include as much of a psychoanalysis of Rachel as it did, but looking at the chapters I already have written, it's digging deeper and deeper into Rachel's mind. Is that supposed to happen?

Reviews are appreciated (please be brutal; I read some of my old fanfiction stories before writing this and they were crap). Also tell me if this completely sucks because I'm more than happy to just reading other writer's stories.

Disclaimer: If I owned Glee, Finn would have fallen in a ditch long ago and there would be a St. Berry baby on the way, just saying.

* * *

Six days ago, the Andrews Academy of Musical Arts, founded by the one and only Julie Andrews Edwards and by far the most prestigious music program in the country, sent out their acceptance and rejection letters.

And Rachel Barbra Berry was holding one of those letters. Whether it read 'accepted' or 'rejected' would determine whether she lived or died—emotionally speaking.

The Andrews Academy, a high school music program that held camp over the summer for those who did not live close enough to attend on a weekly basis, selected only 600 out of the thousands of applications sent in from across the country each year. All entrants needed to send in a tape of _only one_ of their musical abilities—Rachel had sent in three tapes the summer before her freshman year and the Academy had responded saying that the program was for high school students, that she should try next summer, and to only send in one tape next time; she'd taken it in stride and started preparing herself for her high school experience (she'd cried for a week)—while also providing a record of their accomplishments in the musical arts.

Rachel Berry had won many singing competitions as well as dance awards, not to mention the fact that she'd spent months working on her song before recording it. So why then, were her hands shaking?

_Because_, she thought, _this is the academy Kristin Chenoweth went to_. Not to mention that the camp would be full of music loving people such as herself (after going through freshman year being slushied on a daily basis and even egged on occasion for loving musical theatre, she doesn't exactly have many friends). If she could make a name for herself at the Andrews Academy, she'd have an almost guaranteed Broadway career and be able to show everyone just how wrong they were to make fun of her. She'd be able to get out of this dingy little town in the middle of nowhere that seemed to suck all the ambition out of everything.

It wouldn't do that to her. Rachel Barbra Berry refused to let it. She would prove them all wrong; while they were stuck here in this lifeless town, she would be a star on Broadway with her name in lights.

She would not be a Lima-loser.

Looking at the Andrews Academy logo on the corner of the envelope, she knew she couldn't prolong the moment any longer. She slowly turned it over and opened it. There was only one sheet of paper inside, and its first line read:

Congratulations on being accepted to the Andrews Academy of Musical Arts.

* * *

If this doesn't suck, I have a LOT of ideas as to where to take the plot and how to incorporate season one. Seriously, I have a whole trilogy planned out, so PLEASE provide as many tips as can possibly be crammed into a review.


	2. Chapter 2

Wow! Ya'll here are really nice! I realize that "chapter one" was really short, but it was more of a prologue to the story (you know, testing the waters).

Anyways, thanks for all the alerts and favorites! I couldn't be happier, though criticism is highly welcomed.

And since I forgot to mention this last chapter, this whole academy is fake (I'll have a heart attack if it's real); it's something I made up off the top of my head, and I doubt Kristin Chenoweth ever went to a fake academy.

Disclaimer: If anyone looked at my favorite stories and what I'm writing about, he/she would see that I'm addicted to St. Berry. So, if I did own Glee, what in the world am I doing writing about my St. Berry addiction here?

* * *

The underclassman rushed off the bus and flocked towards the entrance. Two summers ago, he'd been that way too. Young and fresh-faced with stars in his eyes, he'd run towards the picturesque entrance, naively believing it was a place where people came to appreciate music. He'd thought that, after a year of busting his ass and constantly looking over his shoulder in Vocal Adrenaline, here was a sanctuary where he could relax and indulge himself in the allure that had first prompted him to sing his first notes. Here, he wouldn't have to worry whether or not his best friend was trying to take his solos. He wouldn't feel the need to do an hour of ballet and an hour of jazz after a grueling five hour rehearsal just to stay ahead. He wouldn't have to pull all-nighters watching Michael Jackson videos trying to memorize all the steps and lyrics just because Shelby mentioned they might do an MJ number.

Here, he wouldn't have to be Jesse St. James, the arrogant boy who'd managed, with one song, to snatch the position of ruthless leader of the nationally acclaimed Vocal Adrenaline.

That notion had been quickly crushed.

Like all aspects of show business, the Andrews Academy was full of deception and duplicity. Behind the pretty lakes and sunshine of its bright Georgia exterior was a cutthroat realm of bloodthirsty, desperate people who wouldn't think twice about turning on you if it benefited them in the slightest of ways. There were people starving themselves to make the cut-off weight—yes, there was a weight limit for who could dance in the expo at the end of summer—and it didn't matter how many times the instructors insisted that not making the cut was not something to be ashamed of, those who didn't were still shunned. He knows that, out of the 600 campers at the academy, more than half used drugs and steroids. Some were convicted and sent home; most got away with it.

He remembered Jennifer, the freshman from last year who'd collapsed from malnutrition. She'd been one of Vocal Adrenaline's best dancers, but for a freshman, she'd been unnaturally tall and muscular. One week before the weighing, she'd fainted in rehearsal and was sent home. Two weeks before school started, when Vocal Adrenaline was starting its pre-year rehearsals, he saw her walk in, speak with Shelby, and walk out. When she didn't show up to rehearsal for the rest of the week, he found out from Shelby that she'd suffered permanent muscle crippling and couldn't dance anymore.

So as he watches the newcomers, with their bright eyes and hopeful expressions, enter a world of deceit and competition that's past the point of fierce, he can't help but feel the smallest twinge of resentment that, by the end of summer, the place will have sucked all the innocence and youth out of them.

Like moths to a flame, he thinks, they'll soon be burned.

* * *

Among the throng of campers at the sign-in desk, she notices that only a small handful look like freshman; most look like juniors and seniors.

She'd expected that (it is the _Andrews_ Academy after all), but she hadn't expect everyone to be so very, well, good. And judging from the looks on some of the younger looking camper's faces, neither had the other newbies.

She turns to look at a redheaded girl leaning on the wall singing. She's just doing scales, and even by Rachel Berry's standards, she's not just good, she's _good_. But it isn't until watching the girl next to the redhead slide gracefully into a split and arch her back in a stretch that Rachel had deemed physically impossible that she starts to feel the nerves. Because it is then, that she notices it isn't just those two girls, it's everyone. Everyone around her seems to ooze talent out of their pores, and for the first time in about ever, Rachel begins to doubt herself.

She's still mulling over her, now seemingly shrinking, chances at being in the expo when she hears someone calling her name.

By nature, she raises her hand, and a tall blonde approaches her.

"Rachel Berry?"

She barely has time to nod before the blonde introduces herself as Marjorie and is shoving papers at her and spewing information regarding camp rules and regulations. She holds herself with the kind of authority that reminds Rachel of Quinn, and she's wondering if she had just run into a more musical but also scarier version of McKinley High.

Whether or not that would be a good thing she can't figure out.

After telling Rachel that she would be her camp counselor as of the next month and a half, she leaves without so much as a "Happy camping!" and begins shoving papers at another camper.

Yep, she thinks, definitely Quinn version two point musically scary; all orders and no leeway.

So she leaves the chaos of the sign-in desk and finds her cabin. When she gets there, she notices that her cabin mates are all undoubtedly older than her. One of them is the redhead she saw earlier, but she's not singing anymore. Instead, Rachel walks in hearing the words "beer bash." Never to be put off, Rachel introduces herself with the same exuberance she plans on making her Tony speech with.

Instead of shaking her outstretched hand, the girls give her an obvious once-over and smirk before continuing their conversation.

Never had Rachel thought that musical Cheerios could be worse than regular cheerios.

* * *

Whoever got the Broadway reference that is ON THIS PAGE, I applaud you and can happily announce that you now know one of the many things that will be a part of the expo.


End file.
